ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ต.ค. 2024
- Storytime!
Took my baritone (not the one in the video) to a luthier a few months back in for string buzzing. When I handed it over, it was laying down for a whole week just for a basic setup to be done.
There were a bunch of good reviews, yes they were real, but I had some concerns during the luthier’s initial inspection that made me wonder how knowledgeable this person was. It was suggested the sides of the frets to be sanded down cause apparently it’s kind of sharp. (I’ve played with sharp frets before where my calluses were ripped every day; these weren’t sharp). It seemed to be such a mystery as to what fret was what because I have no inlays and side inlays are painted over.
When it was played around with, it seemed like he couldn’t identify that string buzzing was an issue. After it was agreed upon for a basic setup, I left, and then I said, “Oh, I gotta text this dude the tuning,” cause ain’t no way a .074 is being tuned up to E without problems. The fact that the tuning was not initially addressed was very concerning.
So a week passes, got it back; don’t think that it was made better. The nut was cut into. Previously, the lower strings did not sit in the nut fully. When it was cut into, it lowered the action slightly, causing the strings to be closer to the frets, which lessened the clearance of those thick strings around 1st position, slightly increasing the buzzing. I’m happy I got it back and there was no damage, but that was a stressful week.
But now, I’ve had the chance to bring it to a different luthier, just waiting for its return, I feel a lot more confident putting it in the hands of this luthier. I wanted to share this story because when it comes to guitar setup and problems, it’s so common to just deal with an issue, until it really becomes significant enough. Then what? We start going to Google or TH-cam, try to figure out which way to turn the truss rod, have no idea what we’re actually doing; are we just messing up the instrument; don’t know who to bring it to; a bunch of stuff.
What do we do? Bring it to someone who knows what they’re doing. Bring it to a Guitar Center (24 - 48 hour turnover), Sam Ash, guitar techs there; or if there’s a trustworthy luthier, go to them. Bring it to someone who has the tools, who has the knowledge and experience. There’s a time to do things ourselves, but there’s also a time to save ourselves time and trouble and go to someone for help. Go to some type of a place that is known and trusted for its business.
And NOT in regards to that luthier, but a different experience; if you’re in some type of sudden situation and run into some random person, and they seem to be knowledgeable and they say they can do something, run away. Don’t talk to strangers. Go to an actual business that is known and trusted to perform a service, and get it done there, get it done properly. A person might be able to complete a job, but it doesn’t mean the job was completed properly. Go to a place where it is standard for a job to get done properly.
I share this cause I’ve been naive at times (and still can be unfortunately), and the outcomes of those situations were not good. A learning experience, yes, but I would rather have been told about life rather than going through certain difficulties. I suppose we all gotta go through what we gotta go through to learn about something in the ways that we gotta learn about something. We may not understand why something is a certain way, but there is always a reason behind everything, even if we don’t understand what the reason is. But it sure is not fun going through difficulties.
A lot more to say, but at another time. This is a special video for a few different reasons, but one reason is because this is a different guitar (while the baritone is at the luthier). I would consider this my first actual professional guitar, because prior to this, I’ve only had 2, and they were from a package. When I purchased this, I also bought some solid state 15w Peavey Amp, and this was such a huge upgrade to using the package stuff. I was playing with package guitars for years, but I didn’t know I was severely lacking in quality.
A package guitar is a great place to start, but if it’s been a couple months and someone is really committed to playing, absolutely upgrade. Don’t gotta be a $1000.00 purchase, but it’s best to get something better quality, learn a bit, when it’s time, then upgrade again; but it’s not good to be sticking with a package guitar for years and years (which I did), and be missing out on quality.
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Specs:
Guitar: Ibanez GRG20Z
Tuning: Eb (Ab = 429 Hz)
(But this is slam and only 2 strings are used and we don’t go past the 6th fret over here)
Cam/Mic: Iphone 11
Nice man, sick riff
Thanks man, glad you enjoyed!
Maybe a surprise pinch harmonic could be added….
What gear is used
Solid State Blackstar ID Core 100w 2x10 combo amp. (100w = 2 50w speakers)